Abstract

-doped AlN epilayers grown by metalorganic chemical-vapor deposition have been studied by deep ultraviolet time-resolvedphotoluminescence(PL)spectroscopy. A PL emission line at has been observed at in -doped AlN, which is about below the free-exciton transition in undoped AlN epilayer. Temperature dependence of the PL intensity of this emission line also reveals a binding energy of . This transition line is believed to be due to the recombination of an exciton bound to neutral acceptor with a binding energy of . This value is also about 10% of the energy level of impurity in AlN satisfying Haynes’ rule. The recombination lifetime of the transition in -doped AlN has been measured to be , which is close to the expected value. The larger of the acceptor-bound exciton in AlN than that in is due to large effective masses of the electrons and holes, as well as the energy level of impurity.